Financial Protection of Personal Pensions vs SIPPS in event of company failure.

anjo56

Hello I have an underperforming pension I would like to transfer but am unclear as to which direction to take -Personal Pension or SIPP. The value is around £200k so above the FCS limit of £85k. What is the safest route for me to take or am I worrying unnecessarily? Is the position different if I use a broker intermediary such as Interactive Investor. Thanks.

Cus

This has come up before. Generally it's what you have invested in, not the wrapper company, that matters.  The 85k is normally not a worry.

Albermarle

As long as you stick to mainstream providers there is very little to worry about.
Couple of other points
- Interactive Investor is a well known SIPP provider.
- More importantly your current pension maybe performing poorly, because it is invested wrongly. Just changing pension providers is not a magic solution, as it is the investments within the pensions that bring the good or bad performance.
Have you considered changing the investments in your current pension? ( you may well have, but many do not)

Marcon

anjo56 said:

Hello I have an underperforming pension I would like to transfer but am unclear as to which direction to take -Personal Pension or SIPP. The value is around £200k so above the FCS limit of £85k. What is the safest route for me to take or am I worrying unnecessarily? Is the position different if I use a broker intermediary such as Interactive Investor. Thanks.

From your post, I think you might not have read this: https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/pensions/

dunstonh

The value is around £200k so above the FCS limit of £85k

What makes you think your FSCS limit is £85k.  Many pensions have 100% FSCS protection with no upper limit.  Others have no FSCS protection (or virtually none).

What is the safest route for me to take or am I worrying unnecessarily?

Probably worrying necessarily as in most cases, FSCS protection is unlikely to be used but if you decide to go away from the mainstream and use loss making providers or fund houses, then maybe it is worth considering.

 Is the position different if I use a broker intermediary such as Interactive Investor.

II is not an intermediary.    Intermedieres are IFAs.     Using an intermediary does give additional consumer protection as you get the advice given protection.  DIY doesn't give you that.    However, the rest is the same.